Jaliya de Silva

Background

Jaliya de Silva has more than 10 years of professional experience and three years of HE teaching experience in business and hospitality. Having worked internationally across the private and public sectors, he brings a wealth of industry insights into his academic practice.

Jaliya holds a BA (Hons) in International Hotel Management and an MBA in Tourism Management from the UK, an MSc in Tourism Destination Development from Sweden, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (UK). He is currently completing his PhD at the University of Aberdeen, where his research explores the connections between memory, heritage, and local narratives in dark tourism spaces.

Jaliya is an active researcher in tourism geographies, place identity, and visitor experience dynamics, contributing to both theoretical and applied discourse. His industry background includes managerial roles in Sri Lanka, France and the UK, equipping him with practical expertise in hospitality operations and service leadership.

Specialist Subjects

Business & Management
Tourism & Destination Development
Hospitality Operations & Service Leadership
Qualitative Research Methods

Professional and/or Research Experience

Jaliya’s research critically examines the intersections of tourism, equity, and identity, with particular attention to structural inequalities embedded within the hospitality sector. A core strand of this work investigates persistent gender disparities, focusing on systemic barriers that restrict women’s progression into leadership roles, enduring pay inequities, and the cultural and institutional dynamics that constrain career advancement. Complementing this gender-focused lens, he also interrogates racial inequities in hospitality employment and service delivery, employing an intersectional perspective to highlight how overlapping forms of discrimination reinforce disadvantage. Beyond these labour-focused inquiries, my research extends to niche tourism domains such as agritourism, dark tourism, and LGBTQ+ tourism, where I analyse their socio-cultural implications, contributions to sustainable development, and the power relations that shape narratives in heritage and tourism contexts.

Qualifications

PGCert THE
MSc
MBA
BA (Hons)

Languages Spoken

English
Sinhalese
French

Professional Membership or Roles

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Member of the Institute of Hospitality

Associate Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Link to Orcid Profile

ORCID Research profile

Professional Publications

Can you break through a cement ceiling? – female chefs’ possibilities for a career in the Sri Lankan culinary industry - DOI: 10.1080/13032917.2021.2015696
Trajectory of Innovation and Transformation on Yum Cha Culture (Dim Sum) - DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-4151-3.ch002